We’ve just begun our second month stay here in Florida. While we are certainly living our dream life, it wasn’t this way two years ago. After grabbing a delicious dinner last night and enjoying eating outside on an 80 degree night, our favorite thing to do is to sit out by the pool with the fairy lights on. Somehow he started playing old videos from March-July of 2020. Oh my goodness were they hilarious and also I remember feeling so very uncertain. Joe decided he would not be able to go back to the car business due to the virus and being on his medicine for Crohn’s lowering his immune system. We sat in our little office and worked our tails off. Instead of running away in the face of danger, we chose to stand up and fight for our dreams. We had just sunk quite a bit of money into an online marketing program/coach and that sure was scary!! Would people sell their homes during the pandemic? The answer was YES.
Like most businesses who made it through the last few years, we learned quickly to adapt and change our ways. We started doing EVERYTHING virtually. What an incredible blessing these iphones and ipads and computers are! We learned that we could do our business from anywhere, and that’s what eventually lead us here to the Tampa area. We knew that it just takes a strong wifi connection and the willpower to put in the work. I knew that one day we’d be able to maybe go to visit a warm sunny place like Florida for longer than the allotted week, but I had NO idea just how incredible the freedom of being able to stay as long as we’d like would be.
Our days have a bit of a rhythm to them and yet we are working with our team to carve out a little more time freedom. Since we have so many moving parts and team members, it’s easy to have endless meetings all week long and constant messages going back and forth. Fortunately we hired an amazing business consultant company, Sharper Solutions to help us with our systems & processes. Our last meeting is coming up next week. It’s such a journey, growing a company and going from just 1 real estate deal a year to multiple every month.
The kids are still enjoying homeschool and we really love the ability to teach life lessons wherever we go. We don’t have one set curriculum, but I hodgepodge pieces together. I love being able to see them thrive in the areas they really love. For our daughter it’s Math and Art. Bradley is an avid reader and loves to dance and just move a lot!! As we figure out the next phase of our children’s education, maybe it will be a hybrid of a few days homeschooling and a few days private school? I’m not entirely sure. I do know the next step is to start making some roots down here so that they will make new friends and connections with others. Most people down here are so friendly! People smile and wave. How could they not, it’s always sunny! In NY people don’t really get too friendly until the warm weather hits which isn’t until May or June.
Sometimes it’s hard to see why you’re working so hard if things aren’t where you want them to be or not moving fast enough. The best nugget of wisdom I’ve learned over the last few years is that you must hold a clear vision of why you started. It will help get you going when you pause, or keep you from wanting to quit. I’ve been scared plenty of times throughout our entrepreneurial journey! The best thing to do is face your fears and just do it anyway. I also made sure to listen to motivating books & podcasts as well as surround myself with positive people who supported our dreams and goals.
I also think that so many of us wait until something pushes us instead of taking the leap sooner to do something remarkable. Had the pandemic not happened, we were waiting a few years before Joe would walk away from his job. In reality, he should have walked away so much sooner! However, this is our story and the paths we have chosen and I’d say all is working out pretty well. If there is a dream inside of your heart, no matter how big, you must work on making it happen! My dream of living by the beach being surrounded by palm trees is finally happening. Put in the work, even when you don’t want to. Serve others and have faith that it will all work out.
